Agenda item

(Councillor Mair left the room during the discussion of this item in relation to the Transport Hub Project, having declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in the matter to be debated.)

The Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy and Economic Regeneration, Councillor Murray:

1. presented his report regarding activity and achievements within his portfolio, covering the following main areas:

2. thanked officers for their assistance with his portfolio.

Members made comments to the Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy and Economic Regeneration on various aspects of his report in relation to:

·         Why was it better to delay the opening of the new bus station and to focus on the opening of the new car park? This was a busy time of year with the Christmas Market and Christmas shopping period coming up.

: There were operational reasons why it was better to delay the opening of the bus station in favour of the car park first. At the busiest time of the year for the city starting with the Christmas Market it allowed more time to ease people into the use of the new bus station.

: The temporary bus station had its difficulties when it first opened. Its replacement would offer a much better visitor experience for members of the public.

·         The need to provide publicity on the City of Lincoln Council within the confines of the new bus station to promote Vision 2020, to encourage members of the public to register to vote etc.

: New advertising screens would be on display within the new bus station offering saleable publicity space to local businesses as well as information on key council activities. The entrance to the bus station would be staffed as an information desk. A tour of the new bus station would be arranged for members prior to its launch.

·         What would be the width of each parking space within the new car park?

: The width of each car parking bay at 2.5 metres was larger than normal and fast becoming our new standard.

Councillor Murray, Portfolio Holder, thanked city council car parking staff for their support and patience during the construction work at the Transport Hub project.

·         Members expressed surprise regarding further delays in progressing the Western Growth Corridor Scheme following the recent consultation period.

: There was no surprise. The Highways Authority as statutory consultee had requested further testing of different models to fit in with their own transport structure. This piece of work was necessary in order to progress the scheme to planning application stage. The County Council as a statutory consultee and a major bidder for funding was perfectly within its rights to ask for further information at any time which could only be answered by people technically qualified to do so.

: The Strategic Director for Major Developments would send a letter to those people who had responded to the public consultation to explain the reason for the delay.

·         It was suggested that the council had gone out to public consultation prematurely?

: The Council had listened to the consultation responses, the main objective being to adopt the correct model, hence why more work was being carried out to make sure of the right outcome.

·         Had the scheme been project managed to account for any potential further risks to push the project off track?

: This was a massive and incredibly complex project. There would always be risks. The planning process should never be taken lightly. The consultation responses had been taken on board, hence the delay; following a period of ‘model running’ a formal planning application would hopefully be submitted in 2018.

: Due to the huge size of the project there would always be steps taken forward and backward, officers had tried to identify as many risks as possible.

·         It appeared that visitor numbers in the city were falling contrary to information coming from local sources. How far was this due to lack of car parking spaces?

: He believed the drop in visitor numbers was down to massive events such as the poppies exhibition in the last two years having boosted visitor numbers which had now tailed off.

·         It was great to see the City of Lincoln Council starting to regenerate the Sincil Bank area. Residents parking would be a very challenging issue for local people to take on board. It was important to explain the plans for the area in detail in the local community.

: There was indeed a need to free up space to carry out improvements which involved residents parking.

·         Members offered support to the Portfolio Holder’s comments in relation to the excellent work done by heritage staff. The review of conservation areas was welcomed. So much information came out of the Historic Environment Advisory Panel which could help inform Planning Committee.

: Consultants were looking at the review of conservation areas which would be reported through to Planning Committee.

RESOLVED that the content of the report by the Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy and Economic Regeneration be noted.